The Woman Behind the Curtain
by nationalnerdherders
Summary: What if the Jedi didn't know as much as they thought they did? Enter "Miraea and Joryn Sken," new recruits on onboard the Endar Spire. What happens after that will surprise everyone-including themselves.


**Author's Note:** This is my first Star Wars fanfiction, and I'm pretty excited to be writing this. I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a long time, and I finally started writing it. Basically, this is a "what if?" AU that wouldn't leave me alone. Enjoy!

* * *

Miraea Sken woke groggily to the feeling of the ship she was in rocking beneath her. That kickstarted her awareness, since she was very familiar with the feeling of a ship under attack. She sprang out of bed-at least, she attempted to. Her foot tangled in one of the sheets on the bed, which would have sent her sprawling to the floor had she not managed to get her other foot firmly underneath her. As it was, she wheeled her arms around, trying to catch her balance begone managing to wriggle her foot free. She moved quickly after that, grabbing her clothes out of her footlocker and strapping her weapons on. She was adjusting her stealth field generator when a young generator when a young blond soldier flew through the door.

"Good, you're up-we're being attacked by the Sith!"

"No kidding, Ulgo," Miraea muttered as the ship was rocked by yet another explosion.

The younger man rolled his eyes, suppressing a knowing smile at her sarcasm. "Come on, Sken. We're supposed to be out there protecting Bastila."

She nodded in reply, and while crossing into the corridor outside of their shared room said, "Hopefully we'll run into Joryn before he does something ridiculously dangerous."

Trask did smile at that, adding, "Like taking on a Dark Jedi by himself? I honestly can't believe you two are related.."

Miraea smirked and replied, "You're not the first person to think that, and I'm sure you won't be the last."

A voice coming from their comlinks interrupted their conversation; Commander Carth Onasi was giving the order for all hands to come to the bridge. They moved through several empty corridors before coming across any signs of battle. Once they did, there wasn't a moment of rest until they reached the door that lead to the bridge. Miraea pushed strands of hair out of her face with one hand while she dug out a few medpacs with the other and tossed one to Trask. They fixed up their respective injuries silently save for the sounds of battle on the other side of the door. After a moment, Trask opened the door and they plunged into what would be the worst battle of the day. Around them Republic and Sith soldiers alike were falling, and in the midst of the fray Miraea spotted her brother. After a few more moments, the battle was over, though not without massive casualties from their fellow soldiers. Joryn himself, a tall, well-built man who boasted a scar that was visible from the neck of his armor and stretched almost all the way to his ear, among other war wounds, grinned when he saw the other survivors of the battle. As he began to walk toward them, Miraea noticed movement behind him. When she saw a gleam of light reflecting off of a blaster, she immediately shot, narrowly missing Joryn's leg.

"Watch the pants! What is it with you and improbable shots? It's like gizka hunting all over again."

Miraea rolled her eyes and began walking toward the only other door in the bridge. "You're welcome, little brother. Come on, I figure that the escape pods are where we need to be going."

"Good thinking." Trask interjected, diffusing the siblings' banter, "Since Bastila's not here, who knows how long we'll have until the ship gets blown to bits."

As they crossed into the next room, several doors in the corridor across from them flew open, revealing a dark Jedi.

"You two, run! I'll hold him off!" Trask cried as he ran into the corridor; once he had crossed the threshold, he shot the control panel for the door, prompting the door to shut permanently.

The two siblings were frozen for a moment, before a crackle came from their comlinks and Commander Onasi's voice erupted again. "You're the last two living crew members aboard the ship. Hurry to the escape pods-I don't know how much longer we have to get out."

The pair immediately sprang into action, moving quickly into the starboard section of the ship. They summarily dispatched the Sith forces that lay in their way, pausing when Commander Onasi warned them of an alarmingly large group of Sith. Miraea managed to get an old patrol droid working again, and that was able to clear out the majority of the Sith. Joryn took care of the rest. After clearing that room, they finally made it to the escape pod bay.

"You made it! Hurry, we need to get out of here." Commander Onasi exclaimed, ushering the pair toward the last pod.

The group squeezed into the pod, strapping themselves in as quickly as possible before being jettisoned toward the planet below. As the pod breached the atmosphere of the planet, part of Miraea's harness came undone, causing her head to slam into a metal panel and her to black out.


End file.
